


Aurors and Schoolgirls: Christmas: Distraction

by mcepl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 10:50:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13363083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcepl/pseuds/mcepl
Summary: This is suggested 17th chapter of "Aurors and Schoolgirls" by Northumbrian. We were waiting for the continuation of the story for so long I have decided to take matter in my hands.The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with caution.- Albus Dumbledore





	1. O come, O come, Emmanuel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Northumbrian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northumbrian/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Aurors and Schoolgirls](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6057483) by [Northumbrian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northumbrian/pseuds/Northumbrian). 



> Before you berate me for writing a fanfiction of a fanfiction, please, sign in, I cannot and I will not reply to anonymous reviews.

> O come, O come, Emmanuel,  
>  And ransom captive Israel,  
>  That mourns in lonely exile here  
>  Until the Son of God appear.
> 
> Refrain:  
>  Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel  
>  shall come to thee, O Israel.
> 
> O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free  
>  Thine own from Satan's tyranny;  
>  From depths of hell Thy people save,  
>  And give them victory over the grave.
> 
> O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer  
>  Our spirits by Thine advent here;  
>  And drive away the shades of night  
>  And pierce the clouds and bring us light!
> 
> O come, Thou Key of David, come,  
>  And open wide our heavenly home;  
>  Make safe the way that leads on high,  
>  And close the path to misery.

Ginny caught Harry’s hand and pulled him towards the dance floor.

“I wonder…” Harry began, as he held Ginny close and they moved.

“If you’re wondering about Fenella, or about whatever Dennis has been saying, or Luna, don’t,” Ginny said forcefully. “That’s for tomorrow. This is the last dance; you should be concentrating on me.”

They came to the brink of the dance floor, but before the music started, Kingsley Shacklebot spoke again.

“Witches and wizards, there are just few days before Christmas, so we thought it proper to end with a Christmas song. However, this year was also difficult and painful for most of us, many of us here lost somebody close, so this song is more sombre and thought-provoking than your average Christmas silly jingle. And if you want to just enjoy your dance and your partner, then ignore the words and seize the moment.“

The old Christmas song started to play, and Harry put his hands around Ginny’s waist. She put her hands on his shoulder and they started to move. He got some practice during the evening and the music was slow, so he tried to listen to the song. Female singer had beautiful angelic voice and although the music was arranged for dance, it was rather slow, so he found out it is possible to enjoy Ginny and listen to the words at the same time.

Harry had little understanding of what the Christmas holiday are supposed to be about. Dursleys never encouraged him to find out, and their Christmas consisted mainly from eating even bigger amounts of food and watching obscene amount of very silly TV, which Harry was not allowed to watch. Surprisingly, he learned even less about Christmas when he was at Hogwarts. There were decorations everywhere, a lot of singing of happy songs by ghosts and charmed armours, and plenty of good food, but not much explanation, apparently everybody was supposed to know what it is all about or not to care. His expectations of the Christmas music was something happy, loud, and joyful.

So, he was a bit shocked how sad and depressing the words of the song were, no jingle bells anywhere. However, he appreciated the song was true, he felt all pain and horrors of the past year were acknowledged. He felt suddenly quite calm, because he knew even more strongly than before that being Auror in such wild world is worthy, and he squeezed Ginny a little more, because he felt even stronger need to protect her. After first few stanzas of the song, Ginny lowered her head, and started to silently cry on his shoulder. They haven’t stopped dancing, and Harry felt again like Ginny’s tears and beautiful music were washing away his pain and putting everything in order. He knew even more that he wants this wonderful mirage of green and red, he held in his hands, be part of his life forever. It was like something got unlocked in his brain with that simple first “I love you.” which made his mind run all the way to the everlasting love.


	2. In the Middle of the Night

Fenella Gray woken up from brief slumber as she was hidden in a closet on the fifth level of the Ministry of Magic and knocked off some broom which fell on a bucket with a loud crash. She was so surprised she thought somebody had to hear her, but after couple of minutes waiting, the silence was not interrupted, and she was getting even more worried, because it became obvious her attempt to infiltrate the filing room won’t fail soon enough, and so she will have to continue with it.

She had persuaded her parents, that she would like to spent time over the Christmas with her cousins Aaron and Zoë Wylde, when their father was in the Auror custody and Mrs. Wylde was distraught by worries about him. Zoë’s mum was even ignoring they haven’t spent any time preparing for Christmas, and so she used that time with Aaron observing the Ministry and trying to discover way how to get unnoticed inside after hours.

In the end they decided that the most simple way is the best one. After Fenella persuaded her father to cooperate with the Auror’s Office in investigating activities of Dolores Umbridge, he was reinstated to more junior position in the accounting department of the Minister of Magic office. His removal from the Ministry was so short, that nobody was suspicious when she went to the Ministry early in the afternoon, had a brief chat and tea with her father; then instead of leaving the building she sneaked into an empty cupboard not far from the offices of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and waited there.

So, she was in that cupboard now, and pulled out her wand from her robes and throw a simple _Tempus_ charm to see that it was already after the midnight. She opened the doors of the closet and entered the empty corridor. She hasn’t seen or heard anybody so she cautiously approached towards the doors of the department and watched at the lock on them. It was clear to her she will need more complicated magic than a simple _Alohomora_. Fortunately, she was just studying the advanced protecting charms in her Charms class and with help of Aaron, who was always more prone to mischief, she studied means of unlocking magically protected areas. She still hoped that she encounters some obstacle which she could use as an excuse why to abort whole operation, but when she threw a diagnostic spell on the lock, she saw to her dread, that the charm used to protect this department is one which she knew how to unlock. Her last hope failed she could retreat honourably from committing something which was unpleasantly resembling a crime.

She tried another diagnostic spell to discover whether there are some other protecting or monitoring charms on the area, but she hasn’t discovered anything. She hoped she was right and threw the Unlocking Spell on the doors of the department. These immediately opened, but in the same moment a loud piercing sound was all around her. She had been discussing this with Aaron and Zoë and after studying the plan of the Ministry they concluded that closest security officers will be three levels above her in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and it will take them at least two minutes before getting to her. So, they concluded the best way how to proceed was just to ignore the sound and go ahead. If she was lucky, there were so few sheriffs around in that moment, she may get enough time to collect whatever information she would be able to find.

She entered the offices of the department and run towards the filing rooms. She knew that their doors are closed only by simple Locking Charm, so she opened them in seconds. She pretended to study the filing system for the Camera Club at Hogwarts so she knew immediately where to find file for her uncle. Holding the documents in her hands she knew, she should just copy it with The Copying Spell and run away. However, she was not able to stop her curiosity and she persuaded herself, that she needs to check whether she found the right file. She opened the folder and looked for the protocol from the interrogation of Wilberforce Wylde. She started to read it.


	3. Transcript of Formal Interview with Wylde, Wilberforce

AO/DEI/0201/0426/98/10/15

last occupation
    

healer in the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

**Interviewer**
    

(Interview was conducted under the influence of the Veratiserum potion. Diagnostic spells were used on the interviewee and no traces of antidotes or protective charms were found.)

State your name, age, address, and occupation!

**Mr. Wylde**
    

Wilberforce Wylde, born January 10, 1950, residing in the Wylde Manor, near Black Stonesdale, Yorkshire. Currently unemployed, but the last position was the Chief Healer of the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries until the May 5, this year.

**Interviewer**
    

Were you or were you not a supporter of Tom Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord, or Lord Voldemort, were you one of so called Death Eaters?

**Mr. Wylde**
    

It’s complicated. Yes, technically speaking, I have been initiated, and as you can see _(rolls up his sleeve)_ I have the Death Mark. I have also willingly collaborated with the Dark Lord and I have followed his orders.

However, I have never supported pure-blood supremacy. How could I, my wife is a Muggle-born!

**Interviewer**
    

I don’t understand. Then, how come you were supporting Tom Riddle?

**Mr. Wylde**
    

Oh, well. You know, your problem is that you see the world only in two colours: us and them, good guys and bad guys, The Light and The Darkness, the Order of Phoenix and the Death Eaters, Dumbledore, and the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, life is more complicated than that, and people do things for many other reasons than their stance on how much purity of blood matters. Like, for example, money.

**Interviewer**
    

What? Your wife is Muggle-born and you would support her arch-enemies just for money?

**Mr. Wylde**
    

And again, you are simplifying the world. People are not always willing to suffer anything for their persuasion.

Let me tell you whole story.

**Interviewer**
    

Please.

**Mr. Wylde**
    

It begun in year 1994, a year before the Dark Lord returned. My brother-in-law, Abraxus Gray, …

_Fenella gasped when she saw the name of her father._

… suggested a business project to me. He wanted to sell some medical ointment in the Muggle pharmacies pretending it is just a Muggle “alternative” medicine. He wanted to start with something less drastic but well working, like Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher, some wound-cleaning potions, Bruise removal paste, and such. He has prepared plans for getting all required approvals from the Ministry of Magic, from the Muggle Department of Health, plans for Muggle-worthy explanations of origin of medicines, but he asked me to help him with the medicinal part of the endeavour. He was serious about doing things properly, so he wanted to test medicines on Muggles, to make sure that even without magical power inside of them everything will work and it won’t be harmful to anybody. He also spent a lot of time building proper production facilities for mass production. I gladly accepted, because I thought it is really great idea, and he seemed to have everything really well prepared. Not mentioning, I thought we wizards really should contribute by any means possible to the welfare of Muggles, we shouldn’t keep everything just for ourselves. Of course, I understand there is The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and I like we have it, but I think we could do plenty without jeopardizing it. So, in total I thought it is such a great idea, I invested significant amount of my money to the endeavour.

We worked on preparation of the project for next few years, and build rather audacious project. And then the disaster struck. The Dark Lord returned. Obviously, the Ministry of Magic openly denied his return, they didn’t want to spread panic until they have better evidence, but still behind the scenes many changes to the policy of Ministry happened. Our project suddenly ceased to be audacious and nice example of cooperation with Muggles, and it became viewed as dangerous and suspicious and all regulatory permits were withdrawn. Our whole project was dead and we lost huge amount of money.

I have mortgaged most of our family properties to get funds for the project, and suddenly I have to stretch all my other resources just to be able to pay all loan payments. My wife was always suspicious about the idea, she was afraid it cannot work, and so I have never disclosed to her the full measure of our exposure. When the project fell through I was afraid she wouldn’t be willing to settle on rather lower life standard, and I begun to fear for our marriage.

In this precarious situation, two more things happened. Abraxus came to me and asked for help. He lost plenty of money in the project as well and he had his own reasons to be worried.

_Fenella knew she should really immediately stop reading the documents, make copy, and run away, but she couldn’t stop reading._

He admitted to me that his marriage had been on rocks for some time already, and that the stress of working on the project lead him to start underhand relationship with a lady twenty years younger than him. Disaster got even bigger when he was caught _in flagranti_ by his wife. Divorces are hurtful to everybody in the pure-blood society, so after some time of crisis, his wife agreed on giving him the last chance, but he had to finish the relationship immediately. And for that he needed a lot of money to make the lady keep silent. He didn’t exactly blackmail me, but he knew I was dishonest with my wife, and it was obvious he wouldn‘t care to put my marriage into the same state as his was.

_Fenella sunk to the floor and sat on the ground besides the filing cabinets in the room. She started to cry, but still she couldn’t stop reading._

And then the second thing happened. Exactly at that moment, when I was the most vulnerable I was approached by Einar Rowle. He told me that Madam Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, was planning to start the Muggle-born Registration Commission. When I asked him what it actually meant, he quickly explained to me that it had nothing to do with any registration, but that all of them would be immediately sent to Azkaban, or they would encounter something even worse. I was horrified and my first reaction was that I was afraid for my wife. He knew about Ariadne being Muggle-born, and he promised me, that if I worked with him, he would provide me with papers proving she is a half-blood. Further, he explained, his plan was to provide for a fee a way to escape for anybody endangered by the Commission, and if I helped with informing all Muggle-borns in St. Mungo’s and helping them to escape, I would be entitled to a cut of profit from the operation.

I was really in horrible financial situation, I wanted to help Ariadne, and his plan was obviously preying on the troubles of others, but it was not completely disgusting, so I have agreed to it. Without me much knowing how, I was suddenly promoted to the position of the Muggle-born Registration Commission’s representative in St. Mungo’s. Everything seemed to work according to what Einar told me. He truly provided me with all necessary papers for Ariadne and I was hugely relieved, that whatever happens at least she was safe. I have collected a list of all Muggle-borns in St. Mungo’s and delivered it to Ms. Umbridge. When she sent summons to all of them to attend a hearing in front of the Commission, we explained them what waits on them, and we offered them the way to get out and they all accepted.

_Tall willowy girl sat on the ground and cried, all papers dropped on the surrounding floor._


	4. In the Middle of the Night II.

The song was slowly coming to the end, when Harry was pulled from the dance by Kingsley Shacklebot.

“Harry, the Ministry wards were breached, we have signals from the Ministry that intruders are present in the building.”

Kingsley turned around and with as much calm as he was able addressed young Aurors who started to congregate around him.

“Potter, Longbottom, Weasley, and Bones, immediately leave for the Ministry, and try to find out what’s going on. Stay away from any trouble, it is more scouting mission than anything else, but if you think it is safe, do what you think is the best. Potter is in charge of the mission. I will meantime try to arrange some more support and organize bigger group of Aurors. Go!”

Three men turned immediately to their girlfriends and kissed them. Susan Bones, who was alone in the banquet, looked on them with a bit of amusement. Then all four of them Apparated away.

They landed in a dark, small alley behind a large office building in the centre of London, just around the corner from the Ministry. It was cold, snowing, after midnight in the government offices area of London, so no wonder the street, where they got by running from the alley, was empty. They approached the main entry to the Ministry. Harry touched the doors of the building with his wand, it was recognized, and all four of them entered.

Moment they entered the building, they knew they were in the area magically protected and isolated to the outside. Emergency lights were shining, sound of the alarm was all around, and in their shadowy light they saw empty corridors around.

Harry threw to the silent Atrium in front of them _Homenum revelio_ , but it returned empty, they were alone in whole level of the building. All of them started to move towards lifts, but Harry running throw a _Patronus_ charm and asked Kingsley for more information. Before they reached lifts the silvery Lynx run from behind the corner and announced that the biggest level of intrusion is on the fifth level. They entered the lift, but Harry was still grumbling:

“What would anybody want in the Department of International Magical Cooperation? I have always thought it is the most boring department in the whole Ministry.”

Meanwhile, the lift landed with specially violent shake on the fifth level. Harry peeked out of the lift to the corridor, but saw nothing. He threw another _Homenum revelio_ spell, but it returned to him empty again. They spread out from the lift in two pairs setting up a perimeter defence. Harry looked around, but he saw nobody. However, there was a small glint of light underneath one door. They moved together, Harry with Ron in front and Susan with Neville covering their back, towards the door. Harry applied diagnostic spells and found out that the protective spells on the doors were breached. Four Aurors assembled around the doors and prepared for the forced entry into the doors.

* * *

_Fenella collected herself and continued in reading; now indifferent about her own fate; finding out truth about her father and her uncle was more important to her than anything else._

**Interviewer**
    

So, the first snatch was successful, how did you continue?

**Mr. Wylde**
    

I have really received a substantial sum of money which got me from the most difficult position, but my accounts were still tight and my wife started to be suspicious where our money went.

And then Rowle started to blackmail me in earnest. He explained me that I have participated in large abduction operation and that all healers from St. Mungo were spread as involuntary workers on farms around England. He threatened me with exposure of my part in the crime unless I continued working with him. He also promised share in the continuing revenue from the enslavement of my former colleagues. He also added that by having those Muggle-borns on farms they would be truly protected against Death Eaters attacks, because they would be too valuable for their lessors.

In the end I have coaxed my conscience to agreeing. However, of course, by agreeing to the blackmail once, I was trapped, and soon I was sliding quickly into full cooperation with the Death Eaters. The Dark Lord was interested in my medical knowledge being used for torturing his enemies, but I have argued that I would be more valuable for him as his personal healer than wasting my experience on those pitiful wretches he made from his enemies, and he in the end agreed to it (or it was his intent from beginning and he was just bluffing). I had to accept the Dark Mark and participate in the disgusting meetings in the Malfoy Manor. After applying all that Dark Magic he had subjected himself to, his health was actually not great, and I was pretty engaged keeping him functioning.

I was also promoted to the position of the Chief Healer of whole St. Mungo. Apparently I was not completely incompetent in doing so, even though I have been forced to accept as managers some individuals like Mrs. Carbis and other idiots with more faith in the Dark Lord than brain cells.

And yes, I have to admit my conscience was greatly soothed by the steady stream of Galleons coming to my vault at Gringotts.

On 1 May we were ordered to Apparate to Hogwarts. I was certain that I have absolutely no freedom to decide whether to follow or not follow this order, so I have arrived there as well. However, I knew from the beginning that I won't be fighting. Aside from having no wish for the Dark Lord to win, as a Healer I am really not well trained in duelling, so in the night I stayed behind in the Forbidden Forest with others, and when the fight moved to the grounds of Hogwarts, I have kept myself still close to the edge of the forest. There was much less fight in that area, trees provided some additional covering, and most creatures in the forest had plenty of other targets to fight. When the dusk came and fight moved inside the castle, or whatever remained from it, I run out of the Hogwarts grounds and Disapparated to St. Mungo, where I collected a copious quantity of potions including the Polyjuice one and went into hiding. In the end I had to confess all my crimes to my wife, she was disgusted with me, but in the end she provided me with a shelter. I have stayed low, avoiding any exposure, and with her help and Polyjuice potion, I have managed to stay hidden until now. I knew that entering Hogwarts even under Polyjuice was a bad idea, but I just couldn't stop myself from seeing my kids to play.

In the end, I guess, I am happy that it is all over. I found out hard way that I am really not meant to be a criminal, and although I will probably stay for the rest of my life in Azkaban, Dementors from there are gone, and I will at least not be blackmailed, and I will not have to lie any more.

* * *

Ron threw open the door and Harry with two other Aurors showered inside of the office with Stunning spells. Then Harry entered the first office of the department. There was nobody there.

The stream of light was coming under the doors to the filing room. When throwing the _Homenum revelio_ spell at them, Harry finally found one intruder into the Ministry, but only one. When he approached the door, he heard sound from the room. In the first moment, he was not able to discern what kind of sound it is, but in the end he thought, and it was hard to believe, that somebody sneaked into the highly protected offices of the Ministry just to cry. He asked others for protective cover, and entered the room.

There was a small heap of human body, robes, and long black hair on the floor. Harry recognized her immediately and turned around:

“Susan, I will need your help.”

He pointed his wand at the crying girl, but he was not expecting any resistance. Susan just helped Fenella to stand up, took all parchments from her, and they all left the department to conclude the night in the Aurors’ offices.


	5. Breakfast talk

It was very late morning when Harry with Ginny finished their breakfast in the Burrow. They sat over now emptied plates with their mugs of the breakfast tea. Harry just finished telling the story of the last night.

“She was completely unravelled, and we didn’t need to ask much, she just gladly told us everything. Well, Susan spent first over an hour with her just to calm her down, but then she gladly talked to us. How she and her cousins were angry with what they believed was the false accusation against her uncle, and how they prepared this intrusion to find out what we know about him. She just didn’t expect to find out what she did, and she was a bit clueless as what to do with what she knew.

However, she surprised me. She looks always like a bit hopeless nervous wreck ashamed of her own existence, but when she was talking about what she did, or about her father and uncle, she was bitterly disappointed, certainly, but she was certain and firm. You were right, she was a friend with Colin Creevey over their shared interest in photography, and I think she felt a great inspiration from this friendship. She was repeating how he told her many times that one has to fight injustice and she believed injustice was done to her uncle. Whatever I thought about her before, she certainly managed to use the situation of empty Ministry and infiltrate the building, so she is capable of action.

It was also remarkable how in the end when she thought it through, she swiftly considered the situation and came with the new plan: she promised absolute cooperation with Ministry and accepting any punishment it will be decided for her, but she asked me to cover her success. She really did not want to tell her cousins what she found about their father, and I could understand her. In the end I talked with Shacklebot, and he agreed I could help her to cover her tracks.

It was strange experience to go together back to the Department of International Cooperation in the early morning and put the documents she found back to the filing room. We made sure everything was as it had been before she came. It was really late in the night just before the dawn, and I was so tired I was running mostly on my autopilot. Before we were leaving I caught myself wiping clean any possible fingerprints as if I was trying to hide from the Muggle police.

Only when I was doing it, I reminded myself, wizards don’t know about fingerprints and nobody in the Department is likely to check for them. Actually, do you know what fingerprints are?”

Ginny looked at him with confused look and shook her head.

Harry looked around to find out how he could explain fingerprints to a pure-blood witch, and then he slowly and deliberately stuck his thumb firmly into a butter dish on the table in front of them.

Ginny laughed: “Harry, I thought we knew each other long enough!”

Harry ignored her joke, and pressed his finger to the glass in front of them. He picked his wand on the table in front of him and after one Colour Change Charm the fingerprint on the glass was clearly visible.

“Here, Ginny, take a look. You see this pattern? Muggles have already discovered in the nineteenth century that fingerprints of any person are unique, so that it is impossible for two people to have the same one. Which means you can prove I was here and that I have touched this glass, just by finding this my fingerprint. And you leave fingerprints everywhere just by touching things. All Muggle policemen and criminals know this, but apparently to our pure-bloody slow Department of Magical Law Enforcement this idea has not arrived yet.

So, that’s another thing which the Ministry should do and pretty fast. To start collecting fingerprints from criminals and check for them at crime scenes.

And I should ask Professor McGonagall, whether it is possible magically transform one’s fingerprints, but I have never heard about this and I think human transfiguration cannot be used for so fine changes.”

Ginny was apparently impressed and she was trying to compare fingerprints on her finger with the one on Harry’s hand, and she was a bit lost in trying to distinguish one from another.

“Anyway, we have even written our reports in sense that Fenella was caught before she could read anything, and so I think the truth is known only by her, us, four Aurors who were there, you, and I guess Ron told Hermione already. I would really like this to be kept just to seven of us, we could get into real trouble if it was found out we fabricated evidence, even though this is really insignificant misdemeanour in the end.”

“What will happen to her?”

“Not much. I think it will be just small fine ordered by DMLE, she won’t even meet a judge. She really didn’t do any damage, and I don’t think anybody wants to trumpet that a Hogwarts’ student managed to sneak through all our Ministry security.”


End file.
